Aircraft noise monitoring tool launched

Gatwick Airport has launched an online tool which provides information on aircraft noise.

A spokesman said the ‘community noise lab’ was the first to be developed in the UK.

Tom Denton, Gatwick’s head of corporate responsibility, said: “This noise lab provides up-to-date flight tracking information which will help us to more accurately monitor concerns and, in time, consider options for further noise mitigation measures.

“We recognise aircraft noise is a real problem for some people and we are determined to do what we can to minimise the amount we generate and mitigate against its effects. This lab is just one of a number of measures we’re introducing, to better understand people’s concerns.”

A spokesman for the airport said the new tool was developed with input from local council environmental health officers and GATCOM (Gatwick’s Consultative Committee).

Unlike other airports’ flight trackers, Gatwick’s website provided more detail and did not have a 24 hour delay.

It used live data from a network of on-the-ground noise monitors to produce community noise reports.

The spokesman added Gatwick was pursuing measures to reduce aircraft noise including: incentivising airlines by charging them less to use quieter aircraft - ‘almost all (99 per cent) of the aircraft currently using Gatwick are among the quietest types in operation, and employing a continuous descent approach, so aircraft use less thrust by gliding and descending at a continuous rate - generating significantly less noise’.

The ‘noise lab’ was developed by Casper, an IT company specialising in the development of real-time location-based monitoring and analysis tools and can be viewed here: http://noiselab.casper.aero/lgw/